Intelligent agent simulator in massive crowd

Crowd simulations have many benefits over real-life research such as in computer games, architecture and entertainment. One of the key elements in this study is to include elements of decision-making into the crowd. The aim of this simulator is to simulate the features of an intelligent agent to escape from crowded environments especially in one-way corridor, two-way corridor and four-way intersection. The addition of the graphical user interface enables intuitive and fast handling in all settings and features of the Intelligent Agent Simulator and allows convenient research in the field of intelligent behaviour in massive crowd. This paper describes the development of a simulator by using the Open Graphics Library (OpenGL), starting from the production of training data, the simulation process, until the simulation results. The Social Force Model (SFM) is used to generate the motion of agents and the Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to predict the next step for intelligent agent

Air Pollution Problems and Diseases Caused by Hazardous Gases in Quetta, Pakistan

Nowadays air over major cities throughout the world has become over burdened with gases produced by automobiles. The death rate due to automobiles pollution is increasing rapidly in the metropolitan areas. With passage of time people realized that polluted air had serious effects on their health, climate and economics. Weather and climate have the integrated impact on human activities which are resulting in worldwide concentration of the particulate of environmental pollution viz. chloroflorocarbons (CFCs), carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide, lead and several other dust and gaseous particles. The present study is an attempt to exploit air problems and diseases caused by the lead, CO, NH3,NO2 and SO2 of the Quetta city. Data at different locations recorded for the pollutants,.i.e., CO, NH3,NO2, Pb and SO2 for a period of two months have been analyzed by two indices ,.i.e. air pollution control status index (APC-Status index) , urban air quality index (Urban AQ index) and the determination of Pb (lead) emitted from vehicle at roadside in Quetta city was analyzed for two months without any interval at nine different stations. We conclude from our results that blood pressure, ENT (eye, nose and throat), fatigue, gastrointestinal, diseases and cancer were highly correlated with lead distribution. We also conclude that the motor vehicles/ automobiles now constitute the main source of air pollution. The coal burning, kiln backing in furnaces and natural gas burning are the other sources of air pollution

Microcredit, Technology Adoption and Economic Development of Rural Household

The main objective of this study is to investigate either Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) microcredit has led to the technology adoption and increase of rural household economy, particularly in household monthly income among its participants. This study was conducted in Melaka based on a sample of 200 participants. The findings of the study show that the AIM microcredit had a significant impact on technology adoption and increased the participant household monthly income in Melaka. The findings suggest that AIM microcredit is still relevant and plays an important role in increasing rural household monthly income, inculcate entrepreneurship among women and reduced poverty. Therefore, the Malaysian government should enact the relevant policies and give supports to enhance the effectiveness and outreach of microcredit

Phytochemical Screening and Proximate Analysis of Balanites aegyptiaca Kernel

Study on the evaluation of nutritional quality as well phytochemical screening of poorly utilized plant products is of immense importance. This research work was aimed at screening the phytochemicals as well as proximate analysis of Balanites aegyptiaca kernel using standard methods. Phytochemical screening of the kernel reveal the presence of Alkaloids, Cardiac glycosides, Flavonoids, Phytosterols, Reducing sugars, Saponins, Steroids, Tannins and Volatile oils with the absence of Anthraquinones and Phenolic compounds. Quantification of the phytochemicals content shows a high content of Saponins, Flavonoids, Cardiac glycosides, Alkaloids and Tannins. Proximate analysis of the kernel shows high Lipid and Protein content with very low carbohydrates and crude fiber, ash and moisture content. Keywords: phytochemicals, proximate, Balanites aegyptiaca, and Kerne

Twisted Vortices in a Gauge Field Theory

We inspect a particular gauge field theory model that describes the properties of a variety of physical systems, including a charge neutral two-component plasma, a Gross-Pitaevskii functional of two charged Cooper pair condensates, and a limiting case of the bosonic sector in the Salam-Weinberg model. It has been argued that this field theory model also admits stable knot-like solitons. Here we produce numerical evidence in support for the existence of these solitons, by considering stable axis-symmetric solutions that can be thought of as straight twisted vortex lines clamped at the two ends. We compute the energy of these solutions as a function of the amount of twist per unit length. The result can be described in terms of a energy spectral function. We find that this spectral function acquires a minimum which corresponds to a nontrivial twist per unit length, strongly suggesting that the model indeed supports stable toroidal solitons.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, title changed, minor revisions, and more references adde

Duplex real-time PCR assay using SYBR Green to detect and quantify Malayan box turtle (Cuora amboinensis) materials in meatballs, burgers, frankfurters and traditional Chinese herbal jelly powder

The Malayan box turtle (Cuora amboinensis) (MBT) is a vulnerable and protected species widely used in exotic foods and traditional medicines. Currently available polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to identify MBT lack automation and involve long targets which break down in processed or denatured tissue. This SYBR Green duplex real-time PCR assay has addressed this research gap for the first time through the combination of 120- and 141-bp targets from MBT and eukaryotes for the quantitative detection of MBT DNA in food chain and herbal medicinal preparations. This authentication ensures better security through automation, internal control and short targets that were stable under the processing treatments of foods and medicines. A melting curve clearly demonstrated two peaks at 74.63 ± 0.22 and 78.40 ± 0.31°C for the MBT and eukaryotic products, respectively, under pure, admixed and commercial food matrices. Analysis of 125 reference samples reflected a target recovery of 93.25–153.00%, PCR efficiency of 99–100% and limit of detection of 0.001% under various matrices. The quantification limits were 0.00001, 0.00170 ± 0.00012, 0.00228 ± 0.00029, 0.00198 ± 0.00036 and 0.00191 ± 0.00043 ng DNA for the pure meat, binary mixtures, meatball, burger and frankfurter products, respectively. The assay was used to screen 100 commercial samples of traditional Chinese herbal jelly powder from eight different brands; 22% of them were found to be MBT-positive (5.37 ± 0.50–7.00 ± 0.34% w/w), which was reflected through the Ct values (26.37 ± 0.32–28.90 ± 0.42) and melting curves (74.63– 78.65 ± 0.22°C) of the amplified MBT target (120 bp), confirming the speculation that MBT materials are widely used in Chinese herbal desserts, exotic dishes consumed with the hope of prolonging life and youth

Tetraplex PCR assay involving double gene-sites discriminates beef and buffalo in Malaysian meat curry and burger products

Replacement of beef by buffalo and vice versa is frequent in global markets, but their authentication is challenging in processed foods due to the fragmentation of most biomarkers including DNA. The shortening of target sequences through use of two target sites might ameliorate assay reliability because it is highly unlikely that both targets will be lost during food processing. For the first time, we report a tetraplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting two different DNA regions in beef (106 and 120-bp) and buffalo (90 and 138-bp) mitochondrial genes to discriminate beef and buffalo in processed foods. All targets were stable under boiling, autoclaving and microwave cooking conditions. A survey in Malaysian markets revealed 71% beef curries contained buffalo but there was no buffalo in beef burgers. The assay detected down to 0.01 ng DNA and 1% meat in admixed and burger products

Exposure and dose assessment to particle components among an elderly population

People spend the majority of their time indoors and the composition and toxicity of indoor particles is very complex and present significant differences comparing with outdoor aerosols. Consequently, ambient particles cannot represent a real exposure. The aim of this work was to determine the daily exposure and the daily inhaled dose to particle components of elders living in Elderly Care Centers. A questionnaire was applied to 193 institutionalized elders in order to achieve their daily time pattern and to define the micro-environments where PM10 and its components (carbonaceous components and trace elements) were assessed. Daily exposure was calculated by integrating the elder's time spend in each micro-environment and the concentration of the pollutants for the period of interest. This parameter, together with the inhalation rate and the standard body weight, were used to calculate the daily inhaled dose. PM10 daily exposure and daily inhaled dose ranged between 11 e 16 mg m 3 and 20 10 3 e 28 10 3 mg kg 1, respectively. This work not only allowed a fully quantification of the magnitude of the elders exposure, but also showed that the assessment of the integrated exposure to PM components is determinant to accomplish the dose inhaled by elders living in ECCs